Sheriff floored by report of mixed remains

Saturday

Oct 13, 2012 at 12:01 AM

FRENCH CAMP - Standing in front of a bank of cameras, San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore told news reporters he was taken aback by a recent report alleging the mother of a homicide victim received commingled remains after the excavation of a mass grave earlier this year. He added he plans to have the findings reviewed by experts familiar with the case.

Jordan Guinn

FRENCH CAMP - Standing in front of a bank of cameras, San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore told news reporters he was taken aback by a recent report alleging the mother of a homicide victim received commingled remains after the excavation of a mass grave earlier this year. He added he plans to have the findings reviewed by experts familiar with the case.

Despite the report, Moore stands by how the Sheriff's Office handled the excavation of a Linden well in which the remains of three women and a fetus were unearthed.

The report from the Human Identification Laboratory at California State University, Chico, suggests there may have been more remains there.

The well appears to have been a dumping ground for the victims of a pair of notorious serial killers who committed the bulk of their crimes in the 1980s. Moore said he would have gone about the dig the same way even knowing what he knows now but acknowledges the department will handle future excavations differently.

"The only thing I can say is I would've asked the FBI to join us sooner," said Moore. "At the time it was the most appropriate."

He added the FBI will be in charge of processing the scenes and remains recovered from future digs.

Moore isn't dismissing the report alleging the remains were commingled, but says he wants the report recently published by the Chico State lab to be reviewed by those who originally handled the case.

Moore says he will seek the opinions of the California Department of Justice and anthropologist Sari Miller-Antonio in the coming days.

Miller-Antonio of California State University, Stanislaus, reconstructed the roughly 1,000 bone fragments with help from the state's Department of Justice lab, which also provided DNA analysis.

When authorities finished, they determined the well contained the remains of Kimberly Billy, 19; JoAnn Hobson, 16; an unidentified woman between the ages of 16 and 18; and a fetus.

They are believed to be the victims of serial killers Wesley Shermantine, who is on death row, and his co-defendant, Loren Herzog, who hanged himself in January.

Neither was charged with or convicted of the deaths of Hobson, Billy or the unidentified woman or fetus.

Authorities became aware of the well only over the past year through tips and maps from Shermantine.

The well had been capped by the landowner years before it was discovered by deputies. The ground covering the well was so hard the Sheriff's Office needed an earthmover to break it up, Moore said.

The possibility of commingled remains came to light after Hobson's mother, Joan Shelley, sent in the bones she was given by the Sheriff's Office for independent testing.

In his ensuing report, Bartelink claims "significant commingling" of the skeletal remains due to the use of earth-moving equipment during the excavation. The report further alleges there could be more than the three people and fetus the state lab had initially identified.

Bartelink's test says bones belonging to a child were among those Shelley received. Speculation has spread that the bones could belong to Michaela Garecht, who was 9 when she disappeared from Hayward in 1988.

Hayward police have sent them to a lab in Virginia for testing. Results aren't expected for weeks.

Shermantine, who has steadfastly denied ever killing anyone, has suggested in a letter to The Record that Herzog might have abducted the girl.

Moore said a review of Bartelink's DNA analysis is needed before he can comment on the speculation that a child's remains were found.

Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani said she is still not clear who is the lead agency in the ongoing case.

Friday, Moore said the FBI will handle future excavations and the Sheriff's Office will provide whatever logistical help the federal agency requests.

She has requested the FBI take over to coordinate communication of sheriff's departments in multiple counties, which has not happened with Moore in the lead, Galgiani said.

Families of potential victims live in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties, and possibly more. Shermantine, in his letters to Galgiani, has mentioned cities up and down the Central Valley, she said.

The families, desperate for information, call the FBI in Sacramento, which sends them to Sheriff Moore's office, and vice versa, she said.

"(Moore) asked the FBI to do a little bit so he could say, 'Oh, yeah, I'm working with the FBI,' " Galgiani said.

"The public has this perception, then, that everything will be taken care of, and we can be confident that everything is moving forward. Then we learn there is no communication, in fact to the contrary" Galgiani said

Moore says his department will share as much information as it can with families if they aren't receiving answers from the FBI.